ORCHARD PARK — It was supposed to be Jordan Hancock’s moment. Something to make the entire year palatable.
An entire rookie season was spent dipping in and out of the line, learning two positions and doing it all with a shoulder that required surgery during the offseason. With less than five minutes left before halftime of an AFC wild-card game, Hancock got his shot.
Veteran Jordan Poyer had been nursing a hamstring injury for a month. He dropped back in coverage, but Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and was fluttering.
Poyer slammed on the brakes during his backpedal and tried to change directions, but his foot got caught in the turf. It was likely the last play of his NFL career. So enter Hancock, who played the remainder of the game.
It seemed likely Hancock would start the following week against the Denver Broncos. Then-Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott never committed. Instead, the Bills started veteran Cam Lewis.
More bizarre was when Lewis had to exit the game for a play and the Bills inserted Darnell Savage, not Hancock. Savage was on his third team, was a healthy scratch the first three weeks after being claimed off waivers Dec. 6 and was inactive in the wild-card game.
Savage overpursued and gave up a touchdown on his only play of the game. Hancock could only watch, logging zero defensive snaps in a 33-30 season-ending overtime loss.
“It was really just a coach’s decision,” Hancock told GNN Sports after a 27-14 preseason win over the Carolina Panthers Saturday. “They wanted to put a vet out there. Yeah.”
It was another chapter in a book of strange decisions. The fifth-round pick played outside cornerback, nickelback and safety during his time at Ohio State and the Bills made it clear from the jump they wanted Hancock to learn nickelback and safety.
Then the Bills, particularly defensive coordinator Bobby Babich, admonished Hancock, publicly venting his frustrations over his slow progress. It was the start of Hancock’s mercurial role throughout the season.
After Taylor Rapp was placed on injured reserve and Poyer was signed off the practice squad, Hancock finally got a role as a safety in Week 9 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
He played obvious passing downs and was even on the field late in the game when the Bills were trying to preserve a 28-21 win. Hancock played at least 10 snaps for five consecutive games. Then it dipped to four, back to 22 and then he had two total defensive snaps over the next three weeks leading into the regular-season finale.
All while Hancock was struggling to find a defined role, he was dealing with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. He was already injured when the Bills drafted him, but it was exacerbated in a Week 2 preseason game against the Chicago Bears.
Hancock was scheduled to have surgery after the game, but it could have meant missing the entire season. Instead, the Bills held Hancock out of the preseason finale and the first three weeks of the regular season, making him inactive in Week 5 before playing in every game the remainder of the year.
“It hampered me a lot,” Hancock said. “Just not going out there and playing as fast as I wanted to play. I may have been playing, just not playing as fast as I wanted to.”
After finally getting surgery, Hancock spent the entire spring in a red non-contact jersey. On the surface it seemed Hancock might be concerned.
Not only did the Bills fire McDermott, Babich and most of the defensive staff, but the Bills were moving from a 4-3 to a 3-4. And Hancock was stuck between positions.
The Bills re-signed Damar Hamlin and added a pair of veteran safeties in free agency. And after releasing former All-Pro nickelback Taron Johnson, they signed Dee Alford to replace him.
Heading into training camp it was fair to wonder if defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard saw a plan for him. Hancock didn’t have any concerns about the new coaching staff because the scheme is similar to what he played at Ohio State.
“When he’s on the football field, you notice him,” Bills coach Joe Brady said. “He’s flying around, making plays. It looks like he has fun playing football and he’s a chess piece for us. It was tough for him in the spring. … It’s hard to come in here and be a part of the scheme without getting any reps. But he plays football the way you want football to be played.”
Hancock started the spring and summer as a safety, but he has played mostly nickel since the second week of training camp. As a result, Hancock’s play has been more noticeable than it was at safety.
A physical freak who, at 6-foot and 195 pounds, has 6-foot-4 ⅛ wingspan, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.42 seconds and has a 41 ½-inch vertical jump, had to answer questions about being physical enough to play in the box as a nickel.
Hancock’s preseason-opening performance may have been proof it was the shoulder injury that prevented him from playing more aggressively. Against the Panthers, Hancock made four tackles, with three coming at or behind the line of scrimmage.
It was against Carolina’s second-team offense and Alford is likely the primary nickel for the next two seasons. But Hancock has a new spark, one that might not let the Bills view him as expendable.
And he’s finding it easier to learn two positions in Leonhard’s defense.
“Now it’s second nature to me,” Hancock said. “In this defense you can go out there, play fast. Playing nickel, that’s my original position at Ohio State and I was the best in the country at that position in college. … I feel like, in camp, I’ve been making those plays. And I treat practices like games.”